1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates generally to a mobile terminal, and more particularly, to a mobile terminal and method for controlling haptic
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, there has been a gradual increase in the number of services and add-ons (or additional features) provided by mobile terminals. In order to increase the utility of the mobile terminals and satisfy various needs of users, a wide variety of applications, which are executable in the mobile terminals, have been developed.
Accordingly, a few to hundreds of applications may be stored in a mobile terminal with a touch screen, such as, for example, a smart phone, a cellular phone, a laptop Personal Computer (PC) and a tablet PC. Objects (or shortcut icons) provided for executing their associated applications may be displayed on the touch screen of the mobile terminal. Thus, the user may execute his/her desired application on the mobile terminal by touching any one of the shortcut icons displayed on the touch screen. On the touch screen of the mobile terminal may be displayed various types of visual objects such as widgets, photos, and documents, in addition to the shortcut icons.
As such, the mobile terminal may apply, to the displayed objects, a touch input scheme that uses an input unit or a touch input unit, such as, for example, a user's finger, an electronic pen, and a stylus pen. The touch input scheme may be classified into a contact touch input scheme for allowing the user to make a contact touch between the touch screen and the user's body or the touch input unit, and a non-contact touch input scheme for allowing the user to make a non-contact touch (e.g., hovering) between the touch screen and the user's body or the touch input unit. These touch input schemes may provide convenient user interfaces.
A scheme has been used, which generates vibrations to allow the user to feel a realistic button manipulation feeling by means of a vibration device when he/she makes a touch input on the touch screen. As such, research has been conducted on various touch input technologies, and many studies have been conducted to meet the demand for interesting new multi-sensory interfaces desired by users.
As described above, a scheme has been applied, which provides vibrations through the touch screen, allowing the user to feel a manipulation feeling when manipulating the mobile terminal. This scheme merely allows the user to recognize that the input unit is in contact with the touch screen.